Tesco share price falls to an 18-year low: What was going on last time it was this low?
Shares in embattled supermarket Tesco ended at an 18-year low yesterday, having closed down 2.27 per cent to 153.00p per share.
The declines are part of an ongoing saga that the retailer has been battling for over a year now, but the failure of the top team to get to grips with the issues has led to Tesco's share price falling 34 per cent since its profit overstatement was first revealed last September.
The last time things were this bad for Tesco was September 1997. But what else was happening a full person-who-can-drink ago?
Read more: The rollercoaster ride remains as Tesco still has plenty to do
A charismatic centrist leader had just been elected. Tony Blair's Labour government had swept to victory earlier that year, ending 18 years of Conservative rule. Not long after, the country reeled from the news that Princess Diana had been killed in a car accident in Paris.
Meanwhile, scientists in Scotland announced that the world's first successfully cloned mammal, named Dolly the sheep, had been born. At the time, it was heralded as one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the decade.
Read more: One year in, Tesco boss has Dave Lewis no room for excuses
Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule as the 99-year lease came to an end. And in 1997 it was all about Spicing up your Life with the Spice Girls, which meant being really into pig tails, chokers. tongue piercings and/or Union Jack dresses and the peace sign.
That is, unless you were an indie kid, in which case you were probably barging people out of your way in homage to Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve.